A Mexican ‘Star Wars’ actor has a better take on immigration than Trump | Opinion
After watching Diego Luna deliver a heartfelt monologue about the immigrant experience in the United States while hosting “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” Monday night, I’ll take the Mexican actor’s description over that of President Donald Trump’s warning of an immigrant invasion of murderers, rapists and drug dealers.
“Tonight I want to address an important issue that is happening here in Los Angeles and all around the United States,” the 45-year-old Mexican actor famous for “Y Tu Mamá También” and “Andor” said during his 12-minute monologue.
“With everything going on in this country around immigration and the authoritarian policies of Donald Trump, it is no small thing that a Mexican is hosting such an important show. I know it’s a big deal. It’s a big deal, and I don’t want to F it up.”
No Diego, you didn’t F it up.
Not when you described the first time you set foot in Los Angeles as a 20-year-old actor, spending your money on “laundry service and alcohol” and meeting people “that to this day are very close to my heart.”
His son, “the only real Mexican-American of the family,” was born in Los Angeles. The residents he knows love to show him their Los Angeles, their neighborhood, their food, “their many gluten-free bakeries.”
When Trump announced his presidential run in 2015, he claimed that México wasn’t sending its best people. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us,” he said. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Luna, who is hosting Kimmel’s show this week, disagrees.
“The people that lifted me up were mostly people that had left their countries to find a new life, or the sons and daughters of immigrants that had come here in order to work and build a healthy, enjoyable and dignified life away from their place of origin,” said Luna.
People don’t decide to move away from their homeland “just for fun,” said Luna. “A movement of that scale (is) not natural, not unless something is very, very wrong in the place you’re coming from. Nobody leaves their land if it’s not because their survival depends on it.”
Survival means you’re fleeing a civil war, gangs, an economic collapse or persecution. Luna is right on the mark on this.
Trump’s world, through executive orders, has targeted diversity, equality and inclusion as bad for the country, as if minorities are incapable of dignity, hard work and excellence. His administration wants to eliminate ethnic graduation ceremonies, programs that help low-income students get into college, and drain federal funds from organizations that help people become U.S. citizens.
This country depends on immigrants
In Luna’s world, immigrants are a vital fabric of this country.
“All the people that I met shared an unspoken gratitude to this country, a country that opened its doors to them,” he said. “And the most beautiful thing of all is that all these immigrants brought their stories with them.
“They brought their loyalties, their love, their traditions. Always with the openness to adopt new ones, to grow and to complement each other in this vast cultural exchange.”
Luna’s world is of “the most delicious Korean tacos” that came about because “a Korean woman fell in love with a Mexican. That’s an LA story.”
Filipino and Mexican field laborers, said Luna, helped create the United Farm Workers more than six decades ago to improve conditions for “people responsible for feeding this country.”
I’m glad Luna is not Stephen Miller, Trump’s advisor and the architect behind the massive deportation efforts that have terrorized Los Angeles. Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, have helped build America “thanks to the generosity and the openness” that surges from the exchange of many cultures.
“People from different cultures and realities agreed to give each other a chance to build something remarkable together,” said Luna. “This place is a powerful example of what’s possible, of what can be achieved when we put empathy first.”
Immigrants care for the elderly, run kitchens, work in construction and hospitality, are athletes, farmers and merchants and “pay a lot of taxes,” said Luna, noting they contributed $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022.
“That is something the Trump administration doesn’t want you to know,” said Luna. “There are a lot of lies flying around about immigrants, but I’m sure you have more than one story that can attest to the contrary. Talk about it. Share it. That helps. (Immigrants) need to know that they’re not alone.”
Luna’s message to politicians
“These have been a dark few weeks,” Luna said about the arrest and deportation efforts that have spread throughout the Los Angeles area. “It is not acceptable, nor is it normal, to separate families. Violence and terror are not OK. Immigrants need to know that their struggle is yours as well.”
Luna said politicians have been asleep on the issue “because it’s easier than acknowledging it because this country benefits from the work of immigrants but refuses to recognize their importance. That is what needs to change.”
“The only solution is clear now, and it’s been clear for decades: Give them a path to legal certainty. This is what your neighbors really deserve, to be fully welcome in this country where they already belong.”
Luna asked viewers to call their congressmembers to support immigration reform.
Luna, like many of us, can’t figure out how someone like Trump can rise to become president. “I always struggle to understand how his hate speech can take root in a country whose nature has always been a welcoming one,” he said.
I would rather have Cassian Andor fighting for immigrants than a morally bankrupt billionaire hellbent on destroying the historic contributions of immigrants.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM with the headline "A Mexican ‘Star Wars’ actor has a better take on immigration than Trump | Opinion."
